Fool For Love
by lunalovegood520
Summary: Rose Weasley has to face the fact that she slept with Scorpius Malfoy, someone she didn't care about and vice versa. When Scorpius then befriends her, as a way to avoid any awkwardness, she agrees and they decide to become friends. Rose/Scorpius.
1. Chapter 1

"Fool For Love" – Chapter 1

I had always loved mornings. That feeling you get when you first wake up and there's nothing to remember or think of – you're just there, part of the world, and it's just a generally wonderful feeling.

This morning was no different. I had woken up as the sun hit my face in a perfect way through the window. I opened my eyes and there was nothing to remember, nothing I had to think of, nothing except to just be there – in my bed, which unusually felt warmer than usual. It took me a few moments to realize that maybe there was something I should be remembering, but I wasn't. There was a slight weight on my waist … and I was naked. Naked? I glanced beside me, where a peaceful, naked Scorpius Malfoy laid.

_Shit_

I suddenly shot up, taking my sheet with me, the events up last night coming back to me faster than what I would have liked, in flashing pictures – big, blaring, and making my head throb.

I see Gerry breaking up with me – telling me that I'm too good for him, some bullshit like that – I see me crying on the common room couch like a helpless child, very unlike me – I see Scorpius come in, asking me if I've seen Albus, then realizing that I've been crying – I see him walk over to me – I see him start to comfort me, patting my shoulder – then I see myself leaning on his shoulder, blubbering about something insane – then I see me kiss him – then him kissing me back – then finally me, leading him to our dormitories – and ---

I cover my eyes with my hands. What did I do? What was I thinking? Wait… right, I wasn't bloody thinking.

I glance over at Malfoy again; he's still fast asleep, the blanket covering him at his waist down. He looks so peaceful; his hair is in his eyes in wispy strands – the way it is before he gels it in the mornings, and his mouth is open a little – oh gods, his mouth and his lips and his tongue…

I mentally slap myself, stupid, stupid brain – thinking things and not being trustworthy. How could I have done this? This was Malfoy. Sure, he was the best friend of my cousin - Albus, only God knows why, but he's a Malfoy – though his family had recently gotten back onto the good side for good, he's still Malfoy.

I see him stir a little in his sleep, and I fell back down beside him, pretending to be asleep. I felt him move a little more and his breathing got louder and I could tell that that he was awake. I felt the bed shift slightly as he shot up, cursing under his breath, probably remembering the events that occurred the night before, before lying back down again. He sighed before rolling over and poking me.

"Weas-" he started to say, the changed it to, "Rose?"

My eyes fluttered open and I stretched a little, "What?" I ask groggily – I have officially perfected my pretend wake-up.

He bit his lip and I widened my eyes, feigning surprise.

Everything is really awkward now and neither of us knew exactly what to do and neither of us wanted to be the first to talk. Finally, I mouthed 'Get dressed' to him, scared that maybe Dominique or one of my other roommates might hear something.

He nodded and searched the bed for his clothes, I climbed to the foot of my bed where my trunk was, with the sheet still wrapped tightly around me. I rummaged through it for a while before coming up with an old t-shirt and sweat pants that are about 3 sizes too big for me.

By the time I dressed, Malfoy was standing up and wearing what he was wearing the night before. I motioned for him to follow me and I made my way outside into the common room with him behind me.

"So," he finally said.

"Yeah."

"Um…"

I didn't really see this conversation leading anywhere, so I decided to not say anything back in reply. It seemed like hours have passed and I'm tired of running things through my mind that might be okay to say in this sort of situation and I noticed Malfoy getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute.

"Look," I crossed my arms over my chest, "last night was sort of … I don't know, weird, and I was just really upset and we both weren't thinking straight, so we can probably just forget about this or just move on or something."

His gray eyes flickered, but his face remained composed, expressionless. He nodded, agreeing with me. "If that's what you want."

And that's it, just like that – it's forgotten and will never be mentioned.

***

At breakfast that morning, I contemplate if I should tell Dominique or not. I'm making a mental pros and cons list in my head, when she touched my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Her big blue eyes are big and filled with concern, and for a moment I thought that she had somehow found out – or maybe she heard us or saw us. Gods, the nightmares she must've had last night.

"You know, with the G-word," she said. "I heard he broke up with you."

My mind drew a blank for a second before I remembered the "G-word": Gerry. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts of Malfoy – or, since it was forgotten – my non-thoughts, I had forgotten about Gerry.

"Oh yeah," I smiled. "Completely over him."

She sighed and sat down beside me. "I really do hope so, he's such an idiot, he doesn't deserve you."

I laughed to myself, remembering his exact words last night: "You're too good for me, Rosie. I'm sorry."

"Anyways," she continued. "I went up to the dormitories and your curtains were drawn and none of us wanted to bother you, so…"

I let out a breath of relief, she didn't know. "Yeah, well…"

She nodded, "Do you need anything? Cookie dough?"

"Cookie dough?" I asked.

"Cookie dough – the ultimate break-up food," she replied.

"Sure, cookie dough sounds great."

***

After breakfast, I had a free period, which I thinking of all the routes to my classes and favorite study places that would avoid Scorpius and Albus' favorite places to be – the Room of Requirement, Slytherin Common Room, the Quidditch Pitch, and the Lake – those were all rather easy to avoid. Thinking about it, it wouldn't be too hard to avoid any unplanned run-ins with him. Life was fair.

***

It's four o'clock and I'm on my bed when I should be in Potions, but I'm not because I was no longer virgin-Rose. Rose and sex just don't mix – they belong far, far away from each other, on opposites sides of the galaxy far. I'm the girl who goes to sleep at 10 o'clock every night, the girl who would rather study than do something actually fun, the girl who irons her uniform twice – once at night and once in the morning. I'm not the girl that loses her virginity the first of her friends, and I'm not the girl that skips class so she could get some quiet and really think about what happened.

I closed my eyes, hoping that this will all just go away – this wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. It was so fast, so disorienting, and with a guy that didn't think anything of me.

I felt a tear slide down the side of my face, landing on my pillow, and I realized that I'm crying, which is actually quite stupid because I have no idea why, but I just lie there and cry, as the rest of my classmates are brewing potions and learning about Mandrake Root, here I am – Rose Weasley, fiery tempered and strong – lying on my bed in my dorm room, hiding away from everyone, and crying.

I'm so pathetic.

***

Author's Note: Whoo! So I'm actually really excited about this fic, and I really hope I actually finish this one (which I probably will). Don't forget to leave a lovely review for me! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, his universe, etc, it's all JKR's.


	2. Chapter 2

"Fool For Love" – Chapter 2

I must've fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes again it was pitch black outside and there was someone knocking loudly on the door. A moment later, Albus' voice rang through it, "Rosie?"

I wiped my eyes, hoping that they weren't still swollen or red, and got up to open the door. The light outside poured into the room, making me squint.

"Rose, are you okay?" He asked, leaning close to my face, his brow furrowed. "You've been crying."

I shook my head, forcing a smile onto my face, "Come on, Al, do I seem like the crying type? I just don't feel good."

"I feel like I haven't seen you all day," he said. "Have you been in your dorm all day?"

"Of course not," I quickly responded.

He looked at me skeptically.

"I was at breakfast," I defended myself.

"That's it?"

"Albus, I don't know why you're so concerned."

"Am I not allowed to be concerned over my own cousin?"

"I'm fine, Al," I said, putting a reassuring hand on his arm. "Right as rain. Really."

"Are you sure?" He made a face, probably because I've never said 'right as rain' or anything like that before in my life.

"Positive."

He looked at me for a moment longer before shaking his head. "Fine. Get better then."

I nodded. "I'll try."

"I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"You will."

"I'm going to hold you to that, Rose Weasley," he said – pointing a finger at me.

***

The thing with me is, after a good cry I'm completely better. Now, I'm all smiles, flowers, and sunshine, and I'm completely over the entire losing my virginity thing – I mean, maybe not completely over it, but the fact is, that it happened and now life is moving on.

And if you wanted to think of the entire situation is a positive way, if it hadn't happened, I would still be hung up on Gerry, and I wouldn't have cried about it (because, well, face it, he's an arse and not worth crying over), so I wouldn't have gotten better from it, and I would just mope about him for the next few weeks.

See? Optimism – smiles, flowers, and sunshine. I'm doing so much better.

***

Dinner in the Great Hall had always bothered me. There was always too much laughing, too much talking, and too much drama, so normally, I would grab something that I could carry in my hand and go back to the Gryffindor Tower and eat there. Dominique liked to call it antisocial, but I simply like to think of it as a way to avoid a bad headache.

Surprisingly, today was different. After Herbology, I found myself in the Great Hall during dinner – talking and laughing – with Dominique, James, and Haley at the Gryffindor table, having a merry old time.

"Please," James rolled his eyes, "Slytherin is not going to beat us on Saturday's game."

Haley rolled her eyes back at him, "Face it, Potter. Their team is perfect this year." She counted off on her fingers, "They've got Albus as Seeker; Malfoy, Giles, and Prewett as Chasers; Gibson as Keeper; and Geller and that really huge Slytherin as Beaters. Perfect team."

James pointed a fork at her, "Haley! How can you root for the other team and oppose your own team? You're our Keeper! It's your job to not let Malfoy, Giles, and Prewett score."

"I'm not Iopposing/I Gryffindor, I'm simply stating the facts," she said simply.

Dominique shook her head, "You two talk about Quidditch too much."

"We do not!" James and Haley said together.

I laughed to myself, I personally thought it was fun to watch James and Haley argue.

A while into dinner, I couldn't help but glance at the Slytherin table. Albus smiled and waved, obviously pleased that I was feeling better. I grinned and waved back. Next to him, Malfoy ate silently, eating each bite slowly, not talking to anyone. He looked up when he saw Albus waving, and followed his gaze to me, his eyes widened a little and a pink tinge appeared on his pale cheeks, and he quickly looked back down to his food, and started to eat again, quicker than before.

Albus looked at Malfoy, then back at me and shrugged.

***

My absolute favorite place in the world is probably the library at Hogwarts. I don't know why – but the way the books would just surround you with their smell and presence just sort of makes you want to curl up and stay that way forever. Somehow, it always had felt like home.

Not to mention, there's no one to bother you when you want to study or just to be alone – normally, I'm the only one who likes to stay in the library for more than a few minutes.

Also, the old librarian – Madame Pince – has been at Hogwarts for so long, she's practically blind and deaf, and doesn't come out of her office much, contrary to what she was like when my parents were at Hogwarts, or so my mother tells me, so I usually have the entire place to myself.

After Transfiguration – the last class of the day – I walked to the library. As usual, I was grateful to find it empty. I took a seat at the table nearest to the entr and pulled out my Ancient Runes textbook and the page we had to translate and got ready to do homework for a good few hours.

I had gotten a good hour of homework done before I heard someone come in. Without looking up, I heard him – or her – walk to the table I was working at and sat down. I had to bite the urge to look up and snap at whoever it was, telling them that there was plenty of other tables in the library and why sit at the only table with someone already sitting there.

Of course, I didn't say anything, and just decided to ignore whoever it was.

"Rose," I heard the person say and my head shot up, shocked to see Scorpius Malfoy sitting diagonally from me, leaning forward on his elbows.

"What?" I was half-annoyed that he had interrupted me, a fourth nervous because this was the first time I had talked to him in over a week, and the last fourth was incredibly surprised.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

I thought for a moment, deciding that there wouldn't be enough time to make a mental list of pros and cons before he was expected an answer. I finally nodded and said, "Quickly though, I have a lot work to do."

"It won't take long. Do you want to talk here or go somewhere else?"

I looked around for Madame Pince, not seeing her anywhere, "We can just talk here."

He nodded, "I know that you said that we should just let everything be and forget about it, but that just doesn't seem right with avoiding each other and making everything awkward. I know that you've been avoiding me these past weeks, just like I've been avoiding you."

I nodded, not quite sure where he was getting at.

He continued, "I think we should try being friends."

"Friends?"

"Yes, friends. I mean, it's useless just ignoring each other – we'll have to talk to each other eventually, so we might as well be just friends. That way, we could avoid any awkwardness later on."

I found myself nodding, "That actually makes some sense… Fine then - friends."

"Good," he said.

"Friends," I repeated it to myself, it sounded simple enough. I stuck my hand out, "Friends," I said as he took it.

"Very official," he pointed out, shaking my hand, smirking.

I pulled my arm back, defensive, "Hey!"

"Just kidding." He stood up. "It's going to be very interesting being friends with you," he said before adding, "Rose."

Rose. Not Weasley, but Rose.

"Same with you," I thought for a moment, "Scorpius."

He smiled at that and turned to leave the library.

"Scorpius," I said to myself, testing it out. Yeah, I could definitely do this friend thing.

***

The smell of freshly mowed grass is probably my favorite smell on the earth. I tell this to my father in the last letter that I wrote to him. I realize this the day after me and Scorpius decided to be friends while I was walking outside to Care of Magical Creatures.

My father responds, telling me that I truly am my mother's daughter.

This letter was shorter than usually were. I had decided that I wouldn't tell my father about Scorpius, telling from how much my father hated – or rather, loathed – Scorpius' father, Draco, he probably wouldn't like Scorpius any better. I had told myself when I decided about this that I wouldn't technically be lying to my father; it would just be not telling him absolutely everything, which, in all honestly, who did? I had found out, though, while writing the letter that with each word I wrote I felt that I was, in fact, lying to him.

"Stop being stupid," Haley said when I told her. "Everyone lies to their parents and this isn't even a big deal."

"It isn't a big deal," I said slowly. "You're right, this isn't a big deal."

She looked at me as if that were obvious.

"I shouldn't feel bad," I said. "That's right. I don't feel bad."

But in complete honestly, I did.

***

Author's Note: Thanks for the lovely reviews! They make my day. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and I am not making any money writing this.


	3. Chapter 3

"Fool For Love" – Chapter 3

Being friends with Scorpius wasn't as hard as I thought – I was never really close to him before our whatever-you-want-to-call it, only knowing him through Albus. For a Slytherin, he was surprisingly kind and his "I'm-better-than-you" smirks seemed to have died down a little. When I dropped a book on the way to a class, he would bend down and pick it up for me. If I had forgotten a quill for class, he would lend me one of his many fancy ones. If I needed a book in the library, he would come along with me and make small talk.

I never had many close, close friends. There was Dominique, James, Haley, and occasionally Albus and Lily, but there wasn't someone who was willing to study long hours with me or discuss books and things like that with me until Scorpius came along, and for that, I was truly grateful to him.

***

"You read Muggle books?" I asked him in shock.

He smiled at my surprise, "Yes."

"You're a Pureblood!"

"Who's discriminating now?" He asked jokingly.

"I'm not discriminating," I said. "It's just a huge surprise to me that you read Muggle books. I thought I was the only one."

"Nope, not the only one."

"How did you, Scorpius Malfoy of the Malfoys, come across any Muggle books in your lifetime?" I asked, curious.

He sighed, serious now. "When I was young, my mother and father would be out a lot, and I didn't really like staying home alone, so I would walk to this really small Muggle town about a mile or so away from our house."

"I thought you lived in a manor," I cut in.

"It is, I just like calling it a house."

"Oh."

"Okay, so I would walk into this town once or twice a week and there was a bookstore there – Muggle, obviously. I would always go in, look at things, but I would never really get anything. One day, the owner – a really nice fellow – told me that if I wanted a book, any book, I could just take it but I would have to return it when I was finished. So, every week or so for two years, I would go to the bookstore and get a book."

"Wow."

His eyebrow rose, "Wow?"

"You've probably read more Muggle books than I have," I told him. "Impressive."

"I'm an impressive bloke," he grinned cockily.

"You are." My words hung in the air for a moment before I realized what I had just said. "I didn't mean it like that!"

He smirked, "Right."

"I didn't!"

"I believe you."

"I swear, Malfoy, get rid of that smirk or I'll get rid of it for you!"

He laughed, struggling to keep a straight face. "Okay, it's gone."

"It better be!"

He was quiet for a moment before he smiled again, "You think I'm impressive."

"I do not!"

"You do," He leaned towards me. "You think I'm impressive."

I glared at him, "Not really."

"A little?"

"Maybe – but just a little."

He leaned back in his chair, "That's what I thought."

Arrogant bastard.

***

I finished my homework faster than I usually do. I found it was easier to finish my homework with Scorpius sitting across from me. He was a prefect, so he was obviously smart, but he was unusually smart, much smarter than I had given him credit for before. He helped me through some roughs spots in Defense and Transfiguration homework – my two weaknesses – and I helped him with his Charms and History homework – his two weaknesses.

He had a sense of humor, which I found surprising considering his background, and his jokes and remarks strangely made me focus even more. When my homework was all finished, the headache I usually had for concentrating too hard for too long, was nonexistent and I felt that I had really accomplished a lot.

I walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room alone – though Scorpius offered to walk me – and found Dominique waiting for me on the other side.

"Scorpius, huh?" Dominique asked, poking me in the ribs, a smile playing on her lips.

"What?" I asked.

"You and Scorpius!" She said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "All of a sudden, you two all cozy-cozy."

I rolled my eyes, "He's just a friend."

"Right," she said, dragging out the 'i'. "If that's what you say."

"We are just friends!"

"Touchy," Dominique's eyebrow rose. "Rosie, you do realize that boy is too good-looking to be around for much more than ten minutes, much less to be friends with and spending hours of time alone with him."

I rolled my eyes, trudging upstairs to the Girls' Dormitories, hoping that I would lose Dominique but I didn't. "He's not that great looking."

"You would have to be without a nose and eyes to think Scorpius Malfoy was not good-looking."

"Nose?"

"He smells like someone gorgeous."

"Now, Dom, what does a gorgeous someone smell like?"

"Like the way Scorpius smells," she replied. "Now, tell me, is anything going on with Scorpius or you?"

"Nothing more than friends," I replied. "That's it."

***

"Why green apples?" Scorpius asked. "Why aren't red apples your favorite?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. It's just always been green apples."

"Red apples and green apples taste exactly the same," he pointed out.

"Not really," I said. "They're really different actually."

"Do you not like red apples because of how they taste or because of the color?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?"

"I'm just curious."

"Well, I don't know why I like green apples more than red apples, but I just do."

"Weird," he said to himself, lost in thought.

"Please don't tell me that you're thinking of apples."

"I'm not," he responded quickly.

"Really?"

"Okay, fine, I am," he confessed. "I just don't get it."

I sighed, exasperated, "For me, green apples just taste better and I'm used to them."

"Green apples," he said.

"Right."

He nodded, "Okay."

That day, when I walked into Ancient Runes there was a green apple waiting for me on my desk. I picked it up, looking around the room for the person who left it. My eyes landed on Scorpius. He smirked at me, then mouthed, "Ienjoy/I"

***

As I walked into the Great Hall for dinner, James and Albus grabbed me by the arms and dragged me to a secluded corner.

"Why are you friends with Scorpius?" James demanded.

"Why not?" I rubbed my arms where they had grabbed me.

"Because," said Albus, his arms crossed.

"Al, you're his best friend!"

"So? It doesn't mean I want you to be friends with him."

"Hypocritical much?"

Albus' mouth opened to give a snappy retort when James cut him off. "Just tell us why all of a sudden."

"He's nice."

James and Albus snorted. "The truth, please," said James.

"Fine," I say, crossing my arms, "because he understands me and he has the same interests as me."

James relaxed while Albus still glared, "That's it?"

"Yes," I glare right back at him. "What did you think it was?"

Albus' mouth twitched but he didn't respond.

"What did you think it was?" I repeated.

James sighed, "We thought you two were … I don't know. Al just said that you were acting weird and he was acting weird. Then, you two are suddenly together all the time."

"You thought we were together?"

"Yes."

"Me and Scorpius?"

"Yes."

"Well, rest assured, dear cousins, that we are not together."

"You're not together?"

"No, Al, me and Scorpius are not together. I promise you."

"And you don't have any feelings for each other?"

"None whatsoever."

***

Author's Note: Okay, so quite short, but I found myself loving this chapter. Hope you enjoyed! And Don't forget to leave me a lovely review!

Disclaimer: JKR owns all. *sigh*


	4. Chapter 4

"Fool For Love" – Chapter 4

Like Haley predicted, Slytherin beat Gryffindor that Saturday during the season's second-to-last Quidditch Match. (They were supposed to play against each other in November, but due to James and Fred getting three months of detentions for exploding all the toilets on the third floor of the castle, the match was rescheduled). Albus – like his father before him – was too good of a Seeker to lose to Michael Harper. Though both James and Haley fought furiously for the win, like Haley had said, with Albus and Scorpius and that strangely large Slytherin, they were pretty much unbeatable.

"You jinxed it!" James pointed a finger at Haley after Madame Seginus blew her whistle, indicating the end of the game.

"I did not," she snapped back, pushing his finger away. "You were the one that only scored six goals this game! Your worst game all season."

"Please," he growled, "if you hadn't let Malfoy score all those points, we would have won!"

"Do not blame the loss of this match on me," she snapped, getting dangerously red.

"I'm not blaming you," he snapped right back. "I'm just saying."

"You were not just saying," she said, poking the end of her broom into James' stomach with each syllable. "You were blaming."

"Ouch!" He rubbed his stomach. "Bloody woman."

"How long do you think we should let them go on before we stop them?" Dominique whispered to me.

"Soon. Haley's pretty feisty with that broom of hers."

Dominique stepped forward to separate them. James then huffed and stomped away, rather immaturely, to go find Fred.

"That was entertaining," I said.

Dominique nodded while Haley glared.

***

"Enjoy watching us kick your House's arse?" Scorpius asked, leaning nonchalantly on the wall.

"I don't know why you lean against walls when you have two working legs," I said, ignoring his question. "It doesn't even look good."

He smirked, "Think whatever you want to think, Rose, but I look amazing leaning against walls."

"Yes, amazing to brainless bimbos that only care about looks."

"Ouch." He put a hand to his heart, "That hurt."

"You'll get over it."

He smiled.

"What?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

"You're amazing, Rose Weasley. Do you realize that?"

"Well, I certainly like to think so," I said, feeling my cheeks burn. "Why do you say so?"

He was quiet for a moment. "You give off that vibe," he decided.

"An amazing vibe?" I asked, grinning.

"Something like that."

"Well, thank you."

"You're welcome."

I glanced at my watch. "Well, look at the time. The entire morning wasted on a Quidditch Game that we didn't even win."

Scorpius grinned cockily.

"I should go catch up on homework."

"I'll see you later?" He asked.

I nodded, "I'll see you later."

And as I turned and walked down the hall, I found myself looking forward to seeing Scorpius later.

***

Haley slumped into her seat, putting her head in her hands. "I think I'm dead."

Dominique agreed beside her. "I love Neville and everything, but is it me, or is he just becoming more boring by the minute?"

"I know what you mean," Hugo said, "the other day, for example, he talked for an hour about puffapods, and not even about the entire falling on the ground and becoming flowers thing – just the pod."

Lily nodded. "It was pretty tortuous."

James grinned. "I'm so glad that I failed by Herbology OWL, so I don't even have to take that class anymore."

"Lucky," Haley muttered. "I think I used up at least 3 rolls of parchment just doodling."

"We have that class next," Albus said, indicating himself and Scorpius, as his face fell.

"I would skip it," I advised.

They all stopped and looked at me.

"Did Rosie Weasley advise her fellow students to _skip class_?!" James asked in shock, he grabbed his throat. "The apocalypse – is c-coming!" he gasped out.

I hit him with my roll, glaring as Albus and Scorpius also grabbed their throats along with James.

Dominique sighed, "Do you three have to be so immature?"

"Yes," Albus replied.

"It's built into our systems," James said.

"And besides, it's fun," Scorpius grinned.

Haley shook her head. "You guys are very dumb."

The next fifteen minutes were rather disastrous. Hugo, always having admired his older cousins – especially James, had also started to grab his throat and made, what he thought, were apocalyptic sounds. Lily, sitting beside him, smacked him – rather hard, I might add – on the head.

Hugo then let out a loud howl of pain and knocked his pumpkin juice all over Dominique and her wand which seemed to fizzle a little bit, which resulted in her jumping up and grabbing her wand away, and well, that lunch ended rather chaotically.

***

"I told you that you were freaking out over absolutely nothing at all," I told Dominique as we walked out of Professor Swishenflick's office. "Your wand is fine."

"Did you _see_ the smoke that was coming out of it at lunch today?" She asked.

I laughed. "Who knew that mahogany mixed with dragon heartstring reacted with pumpkin juice?"

"No one," she smiled. "They should put a warning on the label or something. Beware: Smokes when pumpkin juice is spilled on it."

We passed Scorpius in the hall.

"How's the wand, Weasley?" he asked Dominique.

"Fine!" she waved it around. "It's supposed to smoke when "exposed to pumpkin juice," she quoted our Charms professor.

He nodded, "Good."

"Want to study tonight?" I asked.

"Sorry, Rose," he said. "I have detention."

"With who?"

"Professor Longbottom," he made a face. "I swear, that guy really hates me. My father was probably really horrible to him when we were younger."

Dominique and I smiled, remembering the stories that Neville told us about the infamous Draco Malfoy.

"What did you do?" Dominique asked.

"Fell asleep," he shrugged. "You guys were right, possibly the most boring lecture I ever had to endure."

We looked at him sympathetically.

"Well look for me if you get out early enough," I told him. "I'll probably be at the library or the common room late."

"I will," he said. "Oh! And that seventh year Gryffindor poof-"

"Andrew Creevey?"

He nodded, "Yeah. That one."

"He's gay?" Dominique asked turned to me, covering her mouth.

"You didn't know?" I asked.

"No!" she exclaimed. "I was going to ask him out next-"

Scorpius cleared his throat. "Creevey told me to tell you that the password to the Gryffindor password has changed."

"To what?" I asked.

He shrugged, "He refused to tell me, which is stupid because I'll just find out." He looked at his watch, "and now, I am officially late to my detention."

He gave us a quick wave and dashed down the stairs to the Herbology greenhouses.

As Dominique mumbled to herself about how embarrassing it would have been if she actually had asked him out, I found myself watching Scorpius leave.

***

A few days later, as I was studying with Scorpius one afternoon for our OWLs, which were just around the corner, when he asked me the question that I had dreaded for weeks.

"Do you ever think of that night?"

I looked up, not answering his question. Truthfully, a week after it happened, all I thought about was that, but then there was period of time where it seemed like a faraway past – something that wasn't really there, a dream that I knew happened. It's not really something a girl would forget, but it was something that I eventually got over.

"Do you?" He repeated.

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm just … curious."

"Well, you know what they say," I said.

"Curiosity killed the cat?"

"Exactly," I nodded.

He leaned back in his chair. "So it's either you think about it all the time or it's that you've forgotten about it. It's lost in your brain – pushed to the back of it."

I bit my lip, "I haven't forgotten about it."

He seemed pleased. "Do you think about it?"

"Sometimes," I answered truthfully.

"Do you ever regret it?" He asked.

I thought for a moment, "I did regret it, I used to wish that it didn't happen. Now, though, it just sort of seems like a part of my life that I grew from. I guess you could think of it like a … learning experience."

"A learning experience?" His eyebrow rose, cutting the tension a little.

I smiled, realizing how ridiculous that sounded. "A learning experience."

"Did you learn a lot?"

I laughed. "I'm not answering that."

He smiled along with me, turning back to his book. "For what it's worth, though," he said, looking up again, "I think about it too."

After a minute of silence, I spoke again. "I'm glad we're friends."

"I'm glad too."

I smiled at that, and turned back to my book.

***

The following morning, we received our OWL schedules.

And thus, began a series of anxiety attacks and screaming sessions that I went through every year when final exams rolled through. Scorpius, never really speaking to me before this year, didn't know that near the end of each school year, I would get extremely moody and would yell at anybody and everybody.

Albus had warned him about my tantrums, I was informed, but he just shrugged the warning off and claimed that, "Rose would never yell at me."

Sadly, he was wrong. During the free period after Potions that day, he was quizzing me on the side-effects of amorentia when he witnessed my first of this year.

"You talk too slow," I snapped. "How the hell am I going to go through an entire year's worth of study material with you talking so slow?"

He looked shocked, at first, as if he had been slapped, but he bounced back quickly. "I'm sorry, would you like me to talk faster?" He asked, starting to talk unreasonably fast.

I glared. "Stop being an arsehole, Malfoy. The goal here is for me to study not for you to prove a point."

"Oh, well, maybe if you stopped complaining so much, _Weasley_, maybe if you stopped bitching you would learn more."

"I am _not _bitching."

"Really?" He feigned shock. "Because, to me, it seems that you are, in fact, bitching."

"This is nothing, Malfoy!" My voice rose. "Do you _want_ to hear me bitch and complain because you have heard nothing yet. Nothing!"

Haley and James, hearing us, quickly rushed over and dragged him a safe distance away from me.

"I see you've met the wonderful she-witch that takes over the body of our wonderful Rosie at the end of each year," James said, grinning. "She's pleasant, huh?"

"Absolutely charming," he said, glaring at me.

"I can hear you!" I called to them. They didn't lower their voices.

"Sarcasm only gets her madder," Haley told him.

"Want some advice?" James asked.

"Please."

"Don't study with her. Rose at the end of the year, especially with OWLs coming up is just something you want to avoid."

"He's right," Haley said.

Scorpius nodded.

"It's best just to keep her distance. Let her study alone."

"And if you try studying with her?"

"Well, in third year Dominique was helping her study, she came back with a black eye and, this is completely true, a chunk missing from her arm," James said.

"A chunk?" Scorpius asked.

"We never asked what happened and she never told us," Haley said.

"We just assumed that Rose bit her or something," James said with a smile.

Okay, so now I knew why they all avoided me at this time of year. I knew that I was extremely rude to everyone before exams, but I guess it was that Dominique thing that really scared them away. It wasn't my fault. Sometimes, when I'm really stressed about something, I will take it out on anything. It's just something I do.

So, for the remainder of the week, I studied alone. Occasionally someone would poke their head in to the library or the common room to make sure I was eating and I hadn't passed out from stress yet, but for the most part, I was by myself.

Which, honestly, I didn't really mind. When OWLs came around the next Monday, I was almost positive that I would get A's and O's on the classes that I was interested in taking the following year.

See? Who says studying didn't pay off?

***

The day OWLs were over, I was overjoyed – ecstatic even. I even decided to eat dinner in the Great Hall, and to say sorry for yelling at Scorpius I had even taken a rather bold move – sitting next to him at the Slytherin table.

It always seemed fine to eat lunch with other houses, but at dinner, the rules were different – everyone sat at their own House's tables and that was that. So when I took a seat beside Scorpius, he choked on the glass of tomato juice he was drinking (something I always teased him about – I mean, really, tomato juice?).

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked, taking a napkin off of Albus's plate and wiping his mouth.

"It's nice to see you too," I told him, smiling in greeting at Albus, who didn't smile back.

"You realize what table you're sitting at, right?" He asked, as if I were stupid.

"No, I didn't," I said sarcastically. "I just decided to sit at the table with all the black robes with Slytherin crests and green lining because they just looked so darn pretty."

"No need to get snarky," Scorpius said.

"And we happen to like our robes very much, don't we?" Albus said.

Scorpius nodded, running a hand down the lining of his robes, "Yes, we do."

"What are you doing, Rosie?" I heard Dominique's voice from behind me. "You do realize what table you're sitting at, right?"

"Yes, Dominique, I realize what table I'm sitting at."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Yeah," Albus chimed in. "You sitting at this table during dinner is really wigging me out."

"It's very weird," Scorpius said. "I don't think any House other than Slytherin, much less Gryffindor, has ever sat at this table."

"Should I leave?" I asked, getting rather annoyed.

"Please," Albus said. "You're making us all very uncomfortable."

Okay, so I haven't eaten dinner in the Great Hall for months, at least, and I get kicked off the table I was planning on sitting at?

Do you see why I never sit in the Great Hall?

So, after much less of a fight I should have put up, I went back to the Gryffindor table.

***

"Sorry about the entire table thing," Scorpius told me the next day at breakfast.

I waved it off, "It's fine."

"Well, we should have been nicer," he said.

"Hey, I'm sure if you sat at the Gryffindor table at dinner, you would have been kicked off too."

"By James or someone, though, not you," he said.

"I probably wouldn't have even been eating at the Gryffindor table anyways."

He smiled, then reached into his bag. "Well, to make up for it," he pulled out a green apple.

"Ooh!" I took it, excitedly. "Thanks!"

He smiled. "Forgive me?"

"Of course!" I smiled. "Forgive me about the studying and the yelling thing?"

"You were stressed," he said. "Completely understandable. And really, if you should be apologizing to anyone, wouldn't it be to Dominique?"

"That was two years ago!" I defended myself.

"Okay, okay," he laughed. "Fine then, truce?"

I nodded, "Truce."

***

"Prefect duties for the end of the year," Winston Shaw, our Head Boy, said starting to read from his list.

Honestly, I enjoyed being a prefect. It looked great on a job resume and it came with a shiny badge, and though others may say different, there wasn't much work involved.

Albus groaned from beside me and mumbled something under his breath.

"Your utmost priority is making sure the first years know where to go tomorrow, the last day. Follow them, if you must, drag them to the trains. Second, make sure your commons rooms are in good shape – no one forgets anything, etc. Thirdly, there will be a patrol later on tonight and early tomorrow morning – check your shifts on the list."

Albus snickered beside me, poking me and pointing to a Ravenclaw girl scribbling madly on her notepad the instructions he had given us.

I elbowed him and said, "Be nice."

He continued to laugh. "Check out her quill!" he whispered.

I glanced. Okay, so it was a bit extravagant – probably the size of Prof. Abbott's Transfiguration last essay, at least – and it was blue, silver, green, purple, and I thought I had spotted some yellow in there too, but Albus was still being rude, so I elbowed him again.

He rubbed his side and glared, but at least he had stopped.

"Questions anyone?" Shaw asked, looking around. "No? Then get to it!" and he stepped down from the pedestal he was standing on.

***

Author's Note: Okay, so I've been trying to develop the characters a little before I started getting into any plot development, and I feel, at this point, the characters are pretty developed (hopefully you feel so too) so the next chapter – plot development! :)

Also, thanks for the wonderful reviews!

Disclaimer: JKR owns all.


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